WAILUKU >> Since leaving the Lanai Patrol District three years ago, Maui police Detective Nelson Hamilton has led investigations into murders and an officer-involved shooting.

“He’s tenacious and he likes the chase,” said Lt. Micah Adams of the Criminal Investigation Division. “He’s really sharp, very impressive.”

Police Chief Tivoli Faaumu said Hamilton has tackled some high-profile investigations with new techniques, including one that “gave us that ‘wow’ moment.”

Hamilton’s work was recognized when the 17-year police veteran was named the Hawaii State Law Enforcement Officials Association’s officer of the year for the Maui Police Department. He and officers from law enforcement agencies across the state will receive the awards Friday during the organization’s annual conference at the Hapuna Beach Prince Hotel on Hawaii island.

The award comes as Hamilton is working in the Criminal Investigation Division, his favorite part of his police career so far.

“The best aspect about working in CID is taking a case with not a lot of information and making something out of it — doing the actual ground work, interviewing people, looking at the evidence and seeing where it takes the case,” he said. “It’s more of a thinking man’s game in here.”

Hamilton, Ronald Ikaika Bennett, Dennis Lee and Gordon Sagun — the four detectives in the Crimes Against Persons Unit, based in Wailuku — often work together on cases, as well as with other detectives. “There’s not a person in here, if you ask for help, who won’t drop what they’re doing to assist you,” Hamilton said. “Everyone’s got their niche.”

Usually, two detectives will participate in interviews during investigations.

“I love interviewing people,” Hamilton said. “Sometimes it takes sitting in interviews four or five hours with a guy saying, ‘No, no, no, I didn’t do it.’ By the end of the interview, he’s telling you everything he did. It’s about building the rapport.

“I think that everyone that walks into a room wants to tell what happened. It’s just getting them to the point of telling, getting them comfortable to talk. The right person in the room with you can help out a lot.”

Because prosecution is pending in some of the cases Hamilton has worked on, he and other police officials declined to discuss those investigations in detail.

“He’s been handling some of our high-profile cases,” Faaumu said. “He’s looking for ways to make sure that the victims and the families are assured that the case has been done properly, so that way there is closure.

“That really impressed me.”

Hamilton also made an impression with at least one victim’s family, who named a newborn after him last year.

The sister of missing pregnant woman Carly “Charli” Scott gave her son the name Devin Danny Nelson, taking the middle names from Hamilton and Lt. Richard “Danny” Dods, another key investigator in the case.

“It was really neat,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton was a property crimes detective when he was assigned to a task force created to locate Scott in February 2014. “Because of his dedication and tenacity in this investigation,” Adams said, Hamilton took over as lead investigator. After the case was reclassified as a homicide, months of investigation, including “painstaking and meticulous work,” led to the indictment of Scott’s ex-boyfriend Steven Capobianco, who was charged with second-degree murder and other crimes, Adams said.

As part of the investigation, Hamilton brought back an idea from a law enforcement presentation during a mainland conference he attended.

Working with federal agencies, “we were able to develop a new investigative technique that we have implemented and other sections are also starting to use,” Hamilton said.

While police didn’t want to disclose the technique, Faaumu said “the mission went well.”

“He went outside the norm and tried it,” Faaumu said. “You see it on TV, but in real life you really have to make sure the t’s are crossed and the i’s are dotted.

“All this initiative gave us that ‘wow’ moment. He’s looking at ways you can think outside the box.”

Hamilton has looked for ways to address other issues, including the time lag in getting DNA results that have traditionally been sent to Honolulu and FBI labs, Faaumu said.

“It’s not as fast as what you see with ‘CSI,’ where in one hour with commercials in between we’re able to do a test and get a positive,” Faaumu said.

To speed the process, Hamilton talked with investigators from other counties to find a reputable private lab that MPD has used in some cases.

“It may cost us some, but the family deserves the closure,” Faaumu said.

In December, Hamilton took the lead in another homicide investigation that resulted in the arrest and indictment of a suspect awaiting trial for second-degree murder.

Hamilton also was the lead investigator in a fatal shootout in June on Lower Main Street in Wailuku. After police stopped a vehicle to arrest a passenger wanted on a no-bail warrant, the man got out of the vehicle, brandished a gun and shot at officers, who returned fire. After being shot in the leg and immobilized, suspect Shawn Akamine shot himself in the head to kill himself, police said.

Police reports on the shooting were completed and sent to the prosecutor’s office, which last month said there would be no criminal prosecution of anyone named in the reports.

In nominating Hamilton for the officer of the year award, Adams said that Hamilton has gained the respect of other detectives during his short time in CID.

“What he has done in the last two years, many others could not have accomplished in 10,” Adams wrote.

While he was “honored” to learn he had been chosen for the award, “I think my dad was more excited when I told him,” Hamilton said.

Hamilton’s father, Ray, and his mother, Patricia, will travel from Illinois to see him receive the award, along with Hamilton’s wife, Crissy, and their daughter. Hamilton also has a stepdaughter.

Ray Hamilton was an FBI special agent in Honolulu from 1973 to 1995 and worked with the Maui Police Department during his career.